In a process of fabricating, for example, a semiconductor device, the diameter of a semiconductor wafer to be processed (“wafer”) has been increased recently. Also, in a specific process such as a mounting process, a wafer is required to become thinner. For example, when a thin wafer having a large diameter is transferred as it is or when the thin wafer is subjected to a polishing processing, there is a possibility that a flexure or a crack may occur in the wafer. For this reason, for example, in order to reinforce the wafer, a process of bonding the wafer to, for example, another wafer or a glass substrate serving as a support substrate, is carried out.
Such bonding of the wafer to the support substrate is performed by disposing an adhesive between the wafer and the support substrate through, for example, a bonding apparatus. The bonding apparatus, for example, has a first holding member configured to hold the wafer, a second holding member configured to hold the support substrate, a heating mechanism configured to heat the adhesive disposed between the wafer and the support substrate, and a moving mechanism configured to move at least the first holding member or the second holding member in the upper and lower directions. Also, in the bonding apparatus, the adhesive is supplied between the wafer and the support substrate, and is heated, and then the wafer and the support substrate are bonded together by being compressed. See, e.g., Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2008-182016.